What’s going on with Hy-Vee and the YMCA?

The West St. Paul YMCA has sold their property on Thompson Ave. to the Hy-Vee grocery store chain. The YMCA will be relocating (not closing) and Hy-Vee will begin construction in 2020.

YMCA

The YMCA has been exploring options to refurbish or replace their 50-year-old building or relocate for years, including potential partnerships with the city of West St. Paul and ISD 197. In early 2019 they sold to Hy-Vee.

Temporary location: Oct. 31, 2019 will be the last day at the YMCA’s location on Thompson Ave. On Nov. 4 they’ll open their temporary location at 1426 East Mendota Road in Inver Grove Heights. This is the Southridge Center where Home Depot, Office Max and Aldi are located (yes, it’s outside West St. Paul, but it’s across the street). According to Executive Director Katie Lowe, “Our interim location will offer a lobby space to socialize and connect, a multipurpose room for additional gathering and programming space, two group exercise studios, a fitness center, Kids Stuff and much more. Most of our current services will be available in our interim location.”

Permanent location: The YMCA has not finalized a permanent location, but they repeatedly emphasize that it will be within their current service area (West Side, West St. Paul, South St. Paul, Mendota Heights, Inver Grove Heights, and Lilydale).

Hy-Vee

West St. Paul has been working with Hy-Vee for roughly four years to bring them to the city. The 68,400-square-foot grocery store will include a gas station, sit-down restaurant/bar with outdoor seating, wine and spirit store, and a grocery/pharmacy drive thru pickup.

In addition to the YMCA property, Hy-Vee is acquiring the vacant lot south of Mister Car Wash to have access on Robert Street.

While initial reports said construction would begin in the fall of 2019, it will more likely be June 2020. Hy-Vee is planning construction in conjunction with the River-to-River Greenway Trail tunnel, and Dakota County expects to close on all needed property for the tunnel by June 2020, with construction to follow (though no firm dates are available yet).

(Is Hy-Vee on hold? An Aug. 30, 2019 Star Tribune article reported that Hy-Vee is switching to smaller stores and delaying construction of larger stores, possibly including the planned West St. Paul location. City officials dove into the Facebook comments to correct the record, noting, “The early version of this article was published online with some incorrect wording. There was a reference to the West St . Paul development (as well as other locations) as being ‘on hold’. This is not correct. I’ve been in contact with our local developers, Hy-Vee corporate and the Star Trib today clearing this up.”)